Companies spend a lot of money on naming their brand , researching about their audience’s needs, positioning it accordingly, targeting and advertising it, hoping their brand identity scores a basket in the image formation. And what do they finally end up doing?

Ad attacking their competitors.

What do you call this?

Another marketing stratagem?

Some 7Ps jumbled magic?

Or is it some plain tactic ignorance?

Well I’d say the latter. It is not a space where ignorance would be a bliss.

I feel ad attacks are a huge waste of investment. Why?

This all takes a toll on your credibility level. Take the example of ODOMOS and Good Knight Naturals Mosquito Repellent Cream. The confrontation started between Dabar India Ltd. and Colortek Meghalaya Pvt. Ltd., when an advertisement appeared on Zee News Channel in 2009. The advertisement was launched by Colortek for their product Good Night cream, directly comparing the competitors brand to disseminate their supremacy.

Also it is a sign of how insecure the company is of its brand. And if that happens.bam! Your brand image falls flat on the ground. Take the Rin vs Tide controversy. That explains it.

It might just take your stocks to higher points for the weekend but it is only momentarily, not to forget the rivalry chain reaction you start. Take the example of Pepsi-Coke battle. It has been going on for years now.

Sometimes though it can get you at par with your competitor, like in the example of Harpic vs Domex war.

But usually you end up with confusing the customer even more like in the case of Complain vs Horlicks.

As per corporate-eye.com, in the news of late has been the Dunkin’ Donuts vs. Starbucks taste test ads where Dunkin’ Donuts tells consumers that more “hard-working” people prefer their coffee than the high-priced Starbucks, “elitist” coffee. Rumour has it, Time Warner is preparing to launch a comparative advertising campaign against Verizon.

And now, Campbells is attacking Progresso with ads telling consumers that more Progresso soups contain MSG than Campbells soups do. Progresso is responding with its own attack and its own Progresson Taste Challenge.

So yes it is a never ending war.

So what’s the solution?

The answer is to hold back your brand’s integrity and become a specialist rather than a generalist in your product type segment and narrow down your brand focus. Then this way you can assure the quality of your brand and would not end up in the ad attack muddle.

Another way, as per 22 immutable laws of marketing, is to publicize your brand before you advertise it like Body shop did. It is much cleaner that ways.

7Ps aren’t going to help you in this but 3Us are. User type, User response to current substitutes and finally user behaviour prediction for your brands.